Here’s what Satan does: He accuses. Now, we know he is the father of lies and that lying is his native language. But one of the most powerful ways to lie is to sweeten it with truth.

The fact is, Satan is the father of lies. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know how to wield the truth and use it against you. Wounding you with the facts about your failures serves his overall goal of disseminating the bigger lie that you are broken and unrepairable, useless and irredeemable, and only worthy of shame.

It is difficult enough to have Satan as an enemy to contend with, but to make matters worse, there are people who come into our lives who amplify Satan’s voice.

It has never been my nature to call someone evil. I don’t believe in doing that. To do so makes it sound like they are irredeemable, which no one is. Even so, there are those so closely aligned with Satan that they become the voice of Satan in your life. Like Satan, they don’t just make false accusations. They know enough about you to remind you of your failures.

Here’s what your human antagonists have forgotten (if they ever knew it in the first place), and that is that, a believer in Jesus is not so because he or she has mastered sinless living. On the contrary, he or she is a follower of Jesus because he or she realized the need for a savior. No one is righteous.

If you only reached out with the gospel or declared truth when you were able to present yourself as perfect, you would never, ever speak. On our best days we are too guilty of sin within ourselves to even get out of bed. But God offers forgiveness. Some people will never forgive you even when all the while they themselves may be steeped in the same sin. But the only voice we can listen to and trust is the voice of Jesus.

Yes, the world will accuse you of sin and yet not feel guilty for doing the same. But not Jesus! He says, “Let him who has no sin cast the first stone.” That always clears the room. Then he simply says to the one accused, “Your accusers are gone, and I am not condemning you, so get up, wash your face, straighten your crown, and go and sin no more.”

Now, a lot of times even Christians won’t be as kind to us as the Savior is, to say nothing of the world. But we must learn to see ourselves as God sees us. It is His pleasure that matters. If Jesus says I am, then I am.

Walk in grace and forgiveness today. Has there been sin? Relent and don’t do it anymore. And only listen to His voice. You are who He says you are.

Categories: encouragement

Tags: accusers, forgiveness, grace